Hattiesburg reaches agreement with Petal over waste water treatment rates

PETAL, Miss - Two years ago the city of Petal filed a lawsuit against the city of Hattiesburg over waste treatment rates, the two cities have finally reached a fee they both see fitting.

Mayor of Petal, Hal Marx says, "The number they were going to charge us was twice the amount that is currently charged to the citizens of Hattiesburg. All they do is treat our waste water, we are not part of their sewer system. We felt that we shouldn't be treated in that manner, we thought it was unfair."

The city of Hattiesburg wanted to raise Petal's rates at 800%, Marx says.

"They wanted to charge us $5.60 per thousand gallons of water", Marx mentions. He said they are now paying .90 cents per thousand gallons of water with the new agreement.

The city of Petal hired an outside engineer to look at their waste and see how much cost it would entail to keep the cost down.

"We had a very low BOD number, it does not take that much energy or chemics to actually break down our waste and treat it. So therefore it is a lower cost" Marx says.

The agreement between the two cities has the city of Petal paying $7,000 to $8,000 more a month than they have been the previous years.

Marx mentions that the rate per thousand gallon can change every fiscal year.

Last year Petal was paying .66 cents per gallon, which is a 24 cents difference today.